COLUMBUS, Ohio — There was the time when the team from New Rochelle needed a swift kick in the pants. The Gaels were 2-9 and starting to get discouraged with each other and their season. So their head coach, Tim Cluess, wanted them to dream a little.

“I said it to my players, and I meant it, ‘Just imagine what the story would be if we go from 2-9 to getting to play in the NCAA Tournament,’ ” Cluess recalled. “Everyone’s looking at me like, ‘Are you crazy?’ Part of me is saying it myself. ‘Am I crazy?’ ”

Crazy like a fox, perhaps. From that 2-9 start, the Gaels eventually finished with 10 straight wins to capture the MAAC regular-season and tournament titles and qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a fourth straight season. Sixteen-seeded Iona (17-15) will face top-seeded North Carolina (27-6) in the first round of the Midwest Region on Friday night at Nationwide Arena.

Considering where the Gaels were in December, this has to be the finest job of Cluess’ nine seasons at Iona. Just don’t ask him to admit it.

“I’m not the one to judge that,” Cluess said on Thursday. “All I know is I don’t ever give up on what we’re doing.”

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His players certainly didn’t give up. The Gaels haven’t lost since a heartbreaking 66-65 loss to Quinnipiac at home on Feb. 8, reaching the tournament for the sixth time in the last eight years.

“When you look back from where we were to where we are now, it feels like it’s been several years, not a few months,” Cluess said. “I’m proud of these guys because I’ve never coached a team that was seven games under .500 and won a championship. It’s special because it’s something the players really worked hard for.”

The players said they get their work ethic from their coach.

“He works hard, night in and night out whether it’s film or studying a different team or just letting us know what spots are open on the floor against different teams,” junior forward Tajuan Agee said. “That work ethic rubs off on us.”

There were plenty of reasons for the Gaels’ slow start: Only two of their first 11 games were at home; the roster featured nine new players, and there was a flood of injuries. But the major problem was a lack of chemistry. With so many new players on the team and many of those unavailable to practice until the start of the season, it took time for the team to find a rhythm.

“Early on, they were fighting each other a lot,” Cluess said.

The players agreed: “Chemistry definitely was a big problem for us at the beginning of the year,” senior guard Rickey McGill said. “We didn’t really have a team in the summertime to get together. As the year went on we just kept getting better as a team and just kept jelling together, keeping getting to know each other and that’s what we did.”

Though the losses were frustrating, Cluess said he saw positive signs.

“I liked how they came to practice every day even after tough losses and injuries and all that,” he said. “They worked their tail off every day. As a coach you’re looking around to see if the shoe is going to drop if we don’t win soon. But they never gave up.”

Yet, there was a time when the 60-year-old coach needed a kick in the pants, too. At one point he came home dejected from a bad practice and suggested he might not watch film that night because he was upset at his players. His son, T.J., had to set him straight.

“Dad, it doesn’t matter what you think’s going to happen, you’re going to do your job just like you always have,” the son told the father.

Tim Cluess watched film that night.

“It was great to hear from another voice saying you’re going to do your job because that’s what you always do and you are going to give it everything you have,” the elder Cluess said.

That’s what he and his Gaels will do Friday night against the Tar Heels.